‘Fortress Australia’ to Welcome Tourists for First Time under COVID

A person wearing a face mask walks along the harbor waterfront across from the Sydney Opera House during a lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Sydney, Australia, October 6, 2021. (Reuters)
A person wearing a face mask walks along the harbor waterfront across from the Sydney Opera House during a lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Sydney, Australia, October 6, 2021. (Reuters)
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‘Fortress Australia’ to Welcome Tourists for First Time under COVID

A person wearing a face mask walks along the harbor waterfront across from the Sydney Opera House during a lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Sydney, Australia, October 6, 2021. (Reuters)
A person wearing a face mask walks along the harbor waterfront across from the Sydney Opera House during a lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Sydney, Australia, October 6, 2021. (Reuters)

Australia will welcome international tourists on Monday after nearly two years of sealing its borders, relying on high COVID-19 vaccination rates to live with the pandemic as infections decline.

"The wait is over," Prime Minister Scott Morrison told a Sunday briefing at the Melbourne International Airport.

Australia's opening to tourists is the clearest example yet of the government's shift from a strict zero-COVID approach to living with the virus and vaccinating the public to minimize deaths and severe illness.

Most of the country's 2.7 million coronavirus infections have occurred since the Omicron variant emerged in late November. But with one of the world's highest vaccination rates - more than 94% of people aged 16 and over are double-dosed - there have been just under 5,000 deaths, a fraction of the rates seen in many other developed countries.

On Sunday, the country recorded more than 16,600 coronavirus cases, before all areas had reported, and at least 33 deaths, mainly in the three most populous states of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.

Whether travelers will flock back to the island continent, dubbed "fortress Australia" for its strict border controls, remains to be seen. The government hopes to boost a pre-pandemic growth sector - real tourism gross domestic product expanded 3.4% in 2018-2019, compared with overall GDP growth of 1.9%.

Australia has been gradually reopening since November, first allowing Australians to travel in and out, then admitting international students and some workers. From Monday, leisure travelers and more business travelers may enter.

"The reopening reinforces Australia's credentials as an open economy and will allow companies with international interests to more easily conduct business," said Steve Hughes, head of HSBC's commercial banking in Australia.

"We expect that mid-sized firms which have reached the limits of their domestic growth will have renewed confidence to consider offshore expansion."

Fully vaccinated tourists will not need to quarantine, but those not double-dosed will require a travel exemption to enter the country and will be subject to state and territory quarantine requirements.



Israeli Officials Signal They Want UN to Remain Key Gaza Aid Channel, Says Senior UN Official

 Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in northern of Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP)
Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in northern of Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP)
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Israeli Officials Signal They Want UN to Remain Key Gaza Aid Channel, Says Senior UN Official

 Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in northern of Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP)
Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in northern of Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP)

Israeli officials have signaled they want the United Nations to remain the key avenue for humanitarian deliveries in Gaza, the deputy head of the World Food Program said on Friday, noting the work of a controversial US aid group was not discussed.

"They wanted the UN to continue to be the main track for delivery, especially should there be a cease fire, and they asked us to be ready to scale up," Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the UN food agency, told reporters on Friday after visiting Gaza and Israel last week.

The US, Egypt and Qatar are trying to broker a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza.

Hamas said on Wednesday that the flow of aid was one of the sticking points.

Israel and the United States have publicly urged the UN to work through the new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, but the UN has refused, questioning the group's neutrality and accusing the distribution model of militarizing aid and forcing displacement.

Skau said he met with Israeli authorities at different levels last week and that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation "did not come up in those conversations."

"I think there were rumors of the UN being pushed out, but it was very clear in my engagement that they want the UN to continue to be the main track in delivery," Skau said.

DEATHS

Since Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza on May 19, allowing limited UN deliveries to resume.

The GHF launched its operation, using private US security and logistics firms to transport aid to distribution hubs, a week later.

The United Nations human rights office said on Friday that it had recorded 615 deaths near GHF sites and 183 deaths "presumably on the route of aid convoys" operated by the UN and other relief groups.

The GHF has repeatedly said there have been no deaths at any of its aid distribution sites. The group said on Friday that it has so far delivered more than 70 million meals in Gaza.

The US State Department has approved $30 million in funding for the GHF, which touts its model as "reinventing aid delivery in war zones."

Israel and the United States have accused Hamas of stealing aid from the UN-led operations, which the group denies.

Throughout the conflict, the United Nations has described its humanitarian operation in Gaza as opportunistic - facing problems with Israel's military operation, access restrictions by Israel into and throughout Gaza, and looting by armed gangs.

But the UN has said its aid distribution system works, and that was particularly proven during a two-month ceasefire, which Israel abandoned in mid-March.

The UN said it got 600-700 trucks of aid a day into Gaza during the truce and has stressed then when people know there is a steady flow of aid, the looting subsides.